Chapter 5: Truth Serum?

I made my way home through the evening breeze on my skates. It felt great to be skating again. I just wish I didn’t have to skip that race earlier. My friends are going to be really mad about that. Strangely, I also wish I hadn’t found that object. It was too suspicious for me to feel safe with it. Maybe it’s a part of a bugger puzzle, and I’m an unwanted piece. It made me nervous just having this weird…thing in my possession.

I made it home around 7, just in time for dinner. I stuffed the object in my pocket. I turned the doorknob. It was open, thank goodness. I greeted Martha.

“Hey Martha.” I said.

“Hey Dweeb,” she replied.

Dweeb?Where’d she get that from?As if she somehow heard my thoughts, she suddenly spoke out of the blue.

“I heard it from one of my friends down the street. She used the name on a boy like it was nothing, and I thought-“

She slapped her hand across her mouth. The object shook in my pocket. That was weird. I guess she didn’t really want to say that out loud. Was that a secret?

“Martha, when did you get the time to be with your friends? Did you leave your duties?” My father asked. Oh boy, looks like Martha’s in trouble now. What a breath of fresh air! For once it’s not me!

 

“Yes I did-“, she covered her mouth again. This was getting really weird. Is Martha trying to get in trouble? Or does my little discovery have something to do with this? It shook again. Silence covered the room.

“I…uh…I’m going to go to my room now. I’ll come down later for my dinner.” I said, breaking the silence.

“I think you should, son.” My father said,” I think your sister and I will have a little chat…” His mole began to pulse. That only happens when he’s angry…

Oh no…

I ran to my room and locked the door. I pulled the object out of my pocket. It was glowing like crazy. It started to gently float out of my palms and began to spin rapidly in the air. It was like my own personal lightshow. I worried this would attract my dad, but I remembered he was “busy”. It continued to spin and spin, causing a mad racket of light in my room that I didn’t want.

 Eventually, it just stopped and fell back into my hand. It was shaking, and so was I. This thing was both amazing and terrifying me. I had this feeling it had something to do with Martha telling the truth, but now it was like some sort of weird alien curse. While I was thinking about all of this, I  heard some sort of scrambled voice inside my head…

“WELCOME, MASTER.”

I froze. I had no words. My mind just stopped thinking completely. Had this thing just gotten inside my head?

WHAT IS THIS THING?